Yearly Archives: 2012

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Autumn is finally here, the nights are getting longer and cooler, the holidays are upon us. Bye-bye fresh tomatoes on our sourdough crust pizza, and seasonal strawberries in our scones. Hello, chocolate shortbread BATS! This week only, while supplies last, you can catch a swarm of our special Halloween cookie. They’re literally flying off the shelves, yikes!

This Wednesday is Halloween, are you ready to feed all the hungry mouths at your costume party? We’ve got a special TREAT that will do the TRICK: 10% off the purchase of 2 or more whole pizzas. That’s something you can really sink your teeth into!

Dia de los Muertos

Please join us in our celebration and recognition of life, death, and the dearly departed at our 6th Annual Day of the Dead community party! We’re proud to once again offer our FREE family-friendly gathering with traditional flair, a Dia de los Muertos altar and decorations, free food and drink, sugar skull decorating and live music. Save the date: Monday, November 5th, 6pm-8pm. We’ll be open for business as usual from 7am-3pm, then we’ll close to set up for the party. Feel free to bring copies of photos and other offerings and mementos to place on our altar.

Pan de Muertos

Traditionally, Day of the Dead falls on the 2nd of November, All Souls Day, so Friday Nov. 2nd we’ll bake some special person-shaped loaves and rolls of Pan de Muertos, a sweet and fragrant bread made for eating and offerings for the dead.

On Labor Day, we thought it would be important to tell the radical history of labor in this country as a way to honor the fight for worker justice. Here it goes….

In 1884, former President Grover Cleveland rushed a bill throughCongress making Labor Day federally recognized. Cleveland evidentlyfelt compelled to rush, taking action just after the tragic ending ofthe Pullman Strike. That spring, Pullman PalaceCar Company workers had attempted to meet with Pullman management todiscuss their low wages, sixteen hour work days and the high rentsdemanded at shanty towns. Management declined to even speak withthem. The workers subsequently went on strike, were locked out andstrikebreakers were hired to man the factory. The American RailwayUnion called for its members to protest Pullman. Within four days,125,000 workers on 29 different railroads across the country had quittheir jobs rather than handle Pullman cars. The strike ended when Cleveland called US Marshals and 12,000 US Army troops to break it up, stating that the picketing was disrupting the US Postal Serviceand violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. At least 13 strikers werekilled by the US military and 57 citizens were wounded in the ensuingmilitary assaults.

Cleveland was aware that he needed to give labor unions a nod of recognition inorder to halt further militancy, although it was not until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1937 and many more strikes and struggles thatan eight hour workday was an option for most living in the United States. He did the only thing he could think of second to a show ofmilitary force˗ he created Labor Day as we know it. Labor Day waschosen due to its disassociation with any specific strike or Stateviolence at a time when May Day was already internationally celebrated.

In the spring of 1886, McCormick Harvesting Machine workers went on strike, demanding an eight hour work day. They were locked out of the factory and management hired strike breakers. McCormick paid 350 police officers to form a special force that would protect company property. On May 1st, the ousted workers organized a parade to bring attention to their plight.Two days later, they held another protest which ended in four workersbeing beaten to death by police. Undaunted, outraged workers andunion sympathizers gathered outside the factory the next day. What began as a quiet rally ended in a massacre when a bomb was detonated.Twelve died in the blast and ensuing gunfire, in what has since beendubbed the Haymarket Riot. An internationally publicized case followed, in which eight Anarchist authors and thinkers were convicted of conspiracy despite no physical or testimonial evidence found against them. Seven were sentenced to death and one to 15 yearsin prison; one committed suicide and four were hung. Incommemoration of these events, May Day spread spontaneously throughout the world as many unions, labor groups and workers gave the day their own meaning. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is now a nationally recognized holidayin over 80 countries, yet it is notinthe United States. Instead, we have Labor Day.

For a brief time, unions enjoyed a semblance of prestige and security. Since then, Labor Day has become increasingly associated with parades, barbecues, football and election season; unions too have lost almost all the benefits they once enjoyed. Worker repression andthe hypocrisy of politicians like Grover Cleveland are problems wecontinue to face today, much like workers of the Industrial Era. 34 platinum miners were killed by police while striking in South Africa just over two weeks ago. History would seem to be repeating itself,but it need not. As summer comes to an end and we here in the East Bay enjoy our brightest season, we would personally encourage everybody to spend some extra time with friends, neighbors and family out in the sun. Those of us who work hard, even if only 40 hours a week or less, deserve as many holidays as possible. But it is also important to consider the history of radical labor and the future we hope to see.

It’s been a packed summer full of festivities and honors. Check out the latest news at Arizmendi Bakery & Pizzeria!

Community Appreciation MonthLast month we celebrated our 9th anniversary with a month of promotions, events and activities for our customers. Our summer concert series featured local jazz artists, who provided the perfect atmosphere for lunch-goers on Sunday afternoons. The month culminated with a birthday celebration, which included free birthday cake, compliments of Sweet Adeline bakeshop, live music, face-painting and art-making activities for children. It was a perfect ending to a great month.

Customers returned the favor by appreciating us with a giant birthday card. A big thank you to all our customers for making Community Appreciation Month a hit. We are proud to be your neighborhood bakery.

Top 5 Best Rated Pizzas at Arizmendi Bakery & PizzeriaCustomers had the opportunity to vote on their favorite pizzas at the bakery and the results are in…

New T-Shirts & MugsWe also introduced new merchandise including Arizmendi T-shirts and mugs in collaboration with our friends at Design Action, a fellow cooperative in downtown Oakland and Alliance Graphics, a local union print shop in Berkeley. Help us spread our brand new look by buying a t-shirt or two! The mugs are also eco-friendly and made in USA. Buy a mug and get a coupon for a mug-ful of our trademark Equator Coffee or Numi Tea.

New Products at Arizmendi Bakery & PizzeriaThis month, we introduced four new products to our bakery. Our new seasonal muffin is Lemon Poppy Seed. It’s a brand new recipe and its vegan! Come in and check it out! Due to bad cherry harvest and skyrocketing prices on sour cherries, we have had to replace dried cherries in some of our products. Corn Cherry Scones are now Corn Cranberry Scones and Chocolate Cherry Sourdough on Saturday is also now Chocolate Apricot Sourdough. If you come in on a Saturday you can also catch our delicious new Potato Rosemary Bread, finished off with a garlic oil. Yum!

Best Bakery and Cooperative in the East BayThanks to all your votes, we are honored to share the honor with our friends at Arizmendi Lakeshore of winning best bakery & cooperative in East Bay Express’Revolution: Best of the East Bay.

As the holidays approach us, we’ll have plenty more to update but we wanted to make sure to take a moment to honor our customers for making our summer such a huge success!